Chapter 3

My long awaited 16-year-old summer was here. But, I couldn't do anything about it. Dad had gone to work without talking to me, or even looking at me. I know how disappointed he is but his silence speaks volumes. Funny how when he isn't yelling at me I want him to talk to me, anyway, even yelling.

I can't call anyone, I forgot to remember any of their numbers even though I made a note about it. I haven't spoken to Jet since Dad had took my phone. I don't know what to do anymore. I can only wonder if Jet is thinking about me or going crazy without me. He probably sent me a million messages. Sokka knocks on my bedroom door.

"Katara, I'm about to head off to work. Dad told me to tell you to not to make dinner since he's bringing pizza." I cocked my head at my brother.

"You got a job? YOU of all people?" Sokka shrugged his shoulders and smiled at me.

"Yeah, I know right? Anyway, it's a training place. I think it was called Kyoshi or something like that" My ears perked at the name. I had remembered something about that place. Oh yeah, Jet worked there. I quickly get some paper and a pen and start writing a letter for Jet and once I finish I hand it to my brother. It was about everything that had happened, how much I love him and all that.

"Please don't read it, but can you give it to one of the workers named Jet?" Sokka looked at me like I had three heads. But sighed.

"You're lucky I love you Kat. I'll see you later" I hug my brother before he leaves. He was finally doing something to help me. He was my only hope at this point.

Later on, Dad came home with some pizza. Sokka ate one pie by himself before he got full and started chugging soda while Dad and I were still on our first slices. Dad was still being cold with me, I tried to hug him when he came in but he brushed me off. Now, he's eagerly listening to Sokka's job stories while I just sit there unacknowledged.

"Dad, Are you okay?" At this point it feels like I'm talking to someone else. I haven't spoken to him in so long that speaking feels so weird. He knows I sent that photo, that dirty photo and he doesn't even look in my eyes anymore.

"I'm alright" He says and then continues on. "But we need to talk later Katara" I gulp.

"Later? Why don't you just tell me right now?" The last thing I want is to think about what he's going to say in the middle of the night. It would be hard to avoid without my phone.

He glances at Sokka who just looks solemnly into his eyes. "Well, I guess the whole family needs to hear this. Katara, I've been thinking about how to handle your punishment this summer"

I scoff in my mind. He says it like he's introducing a new business idea. In my opinion, he's been punishing me good enough. I have nobody to talk to in order to distract me from thinking about what I had done. What is worse than this? Prison?

"What do you mean?" I mentally prepare myself for what he was about to say, there could be nothing worse than being disconnected from everyone I know.

"I can't control you here at all. I have work and so does Sokka, so nobody can watch you try to leave. You're going to go be with your grandparents and you're still grounded while you're over there"

This is something I would never be prepared for. I hadn't even thought about this as a punishment before. I sigh and give up the option to fight back.

"When?" As soon as I say that, Dad turns in order to not meet my eyes.

"Tomorrow" My mind instantly runs wild. Gran Gran lives in the middle of nowhere in New York. She lives upstate, where nothing happens and there's hardly any transportation if you don't have a car. If i had tried to leave, I wouldn't be able to.

"Katara please don't try to fight this. It's for your own good." I nod and continue to eat my pizza and Sokka laughs mockingly at me. This is the worst summer of my life

The plane ride to New York was dreadfully boring. We could've drove there because it was close, but I guess dad just didn't want to be alone with me. The second the plane took off, the TV channels went off. I was the only family member going, so I didn't even have Sokka's terrible jokes to keep me entertained. Before I left, Dad gave me a book he used to read as a boy. Yeah, no. I'm not a big Percy Jackson fan. I wait outside the airport to wait for my grandparents. I look around and see a bush with the letters JFK engraved into them. Funny how the airport was dedicated to someone like that. I see my grandparents' car and hop in, my grandpa opening the trunk and putting my stuff in for me.

"Hey Gramp Gramp" I smile at him as he shifts the car into Drive.

"Hey Katara, how was your trip?" I think about the terrible airplane food I had eaten and the kid who kept kicking my seat behind me. I shudder.

"Not ideal, but not so bad" I chuckle and the rest of the ride is silent. My grandfather is not a man of many words, so his silence didn't bother me as much as my dad's silence did. Pakku doesn't really talk a lot with anyone, besides Gran Gran. As my grandfather pulled into his driveway, I could tell the place changed a lot since I was last there. The neighbor's house was more spacious and the lake that belonged to Pakku seemed to be a shared one.

"Gramp Gramp I thought Gyatso gave the lake to you? And what happened to the space?" He scowled as he opened the trunk and I grab my suitcase. He mumbled something about teenagers as he unlocked the door and I stepped in. I don't understand but I didn't wanna question it. I see my Gran Gran out of the corner of my eye in the living room and run to her, giving her a big hug.

"Who is this beautiful young lady" She smiles sweetly at me but I didn't know if she was serious or not. Gran Gran was getting to that age where she forgets things. Sometimes she calls me by my mom's name, and sometimes she forgets it altogether. She even tells me things multiple times.

"It's Katara Gran Gran" I smile back and try to avoid her knitting needles so they don't poke my eyes out.

"My, it's so wonderful that you decided to visit, I never get much attention around here" Pakku scoffs at her statement, taking my suitcase and putting it in my dad's old room.

I suspected my father wouldn't have told her I had to come here as a punishment. After all, he was scared of my grandmother more than anything. I wouldn't have come here on my own anyway, no internet and no cell service? Yeah no, I'd die in one hour.

We eat dinner at six and at least the food is amazing. My Gran Gran makes the best sea prune stew in the world. We played cards for what felt like hours, but it was really only 8 and I wasn't really tired. I go into my grandparents' backyard and look at the sky for a bit. I keep reaching for my cell phone but it isn't really there. I keep thinking of things I could post on Facebook but there's nothing there either. I wish I could talk to Jet, I miss him.

As I indulge in my sorrow I hear a voice, which caught me totally off guard. I freeze, not wanting to get caught and look to my right, a shadow coming into view. He's a young guy, probably around my age or younger. Ew Freshman. I think to myself and then I notice he's holding a cellphone. I instantly get jealous. I guess some phones can get a reception out here.

"I don't care On Ji. You should've thought about that before you cheated on me and fucked that dude." I gasp quietly, and turn away. I feel guilty for eavesdropping on this type of conversation.

"Stop calling me" He says, he was clearly trembling and was about to start crying. My heart instantly droops. "I can't take this anymore. You keep cheating on me with him and then you come back like it's nothing? My dad died On Ji and you decide to do that? No, I can't keep being with you no matter how much I love you. Goodbye" I hear him start to cry and he throws his phone on the ground. He doesn't know how good it feels to have a phone at least. I sigh and go back inside, instantly feeling too tired to think about what I heard. After all, it was none of my business.

The next day, ridiculously early in the morning I train with Pakku at the lake. He teaches me more difficult forms of waterbending. Gran Gran was back at the house, knitting. Just like my brother and father, Gran Gran wasn't a water bender. Me and Pakku were the only ones. He didn't usually teach women, but when it came out that I was a waterbender, He instantly had a change of heart.

I can't stop trying to reach for my nonexistent cell phone in my back pocket. I don't have anything important to say, but someone to talk to would be much appreciated. Especially since I don't want to get my ass beat for the third time by an old man.

We finished training and headed inside the house, my Gran Gran had made some sea prune snacks for me and Pakku to share.

"I'm not hungry so you can have them all" I look at him in appreciation and nod, there was nothing else to do so I sit on the porch and just gaze at the land in front of me. A sheriff car pulls in front of the porch and comes up to me.

"Hello, is Pakku here? I'd like to speak to him" God knows I'd love to tweet about this. I nod and go get my grandpa who goes to the sheriff and speaks to him.

"What do you mean he put it in his will?!" Pakku started to yell and I was a little intimidated, I had never heard him raise his voice like that. The sheriff leaves and my grandfather comes back, stomping on the ground as he sits next to me. He starts to eat some of the sea prunes and tries to calm himself down.

"So, what was that about Gramp?" He looks at me and sighs.

"You remember Gyatso, that monk from when you were little" I nod and he continues. "He died recently. Left everything to his damn brat to train for. Him and his friends stay here and make all types of noise at random hours. I even had to share my land." It blows me away at how many things my grandfather told me, he barely even talks to me.

"He trains every day." I nod and we sit in silence. Acknowledging each other's company. He heads back inside and I stare at the clouds for a bit. Then, I see the kid from last night heading into his house. I go to the backyard porch to see what he does for training. I was fairly interested after all.

For the next hour, I watch him. Like a stalker. He was an air bender, it was easy to tell from his tattoos and his attire. The air nomads were the only kind of people with that funky kind of style. I giggle as I watch him meditate.

The sun hides itself behind the trees, making it harder for me to observe him. My fingers touch the railing. I want to talk to him, learn his name, even get to know him. I just want someone to distract me from this boring town, and hopefully make a new friend. Yelling from here doesn't seem like a good way to make new friends. I sit back on one of the chairs and cough. At first, it was accidental. Then it gave me an idea. I coughed louder, but he still didn't budge. I go back inside, into my dad's old room and think.

I looked around, my dad had a collection of snow globes and I instantly grabbed one to look at but I dropped the one behind it out the window by accident. It made a loud noise that nobody would be able to ignore. I went back into the backyard porch and opened my mouth.

"Oh my god, are you serious?" I say a bit louder than I should have. I go to the snow globe's broken pieces and pick them up, disappointed at my clumsiness. I then feel one of the shards prick my finger and I see blood coming out.

"This really sucks" I think out loud and go to the lake to get water to heal myself and stop the bleeding. I turned to my side to see if the air bending boy was still there to see me embarrass myself, and he was. We locked eyes for a moment, my chest starting to throb and he sends a grin my way. He then walks over to me and waves.

"Um, Hi" He scratches the back of his head bashfully with his other hand as he waves to me. I wave back.

"Hi, sorry if I bothered you." He shakes his head and holds out his hand.

"You're good. I'm Aang by the way." I smile at him and take his hand in mine.

"I'm Katara" Aang looks back at the broken snow globe and then back at me.

"So Katara, do you collect snow globes" he laughs a bit and I shake my head.

"It was my dad's but I accidentally dropped it when I was picking up one of them" He laughs even harder, making me blush in embarrassment.

"Jeez, you must really be clumsy. Let me help you" before I could refuse, he bends the air to pick up the shards and put it in our dumpster. I had never seen air bending before, and was hoping to see him airbend earlier for his training.

"I've never met an airbender before. That's so cool." I flash him a smile and he blushes, scratching his cheek

"It's nothing special hehe" he really is adorable now that I think about it. He was a little shorter than me, but that's probably because I have boots on.

"I've never seen you around before Katara, are you new here?" I shake my head in reply to his question.

"Nah, I'm visiting my grandparents for the summer. The whole summer" I cringe at the last part, I really wish that there was a way to bend time so that I wouldn't have pissed my father off.

"Well, what do you do for fun?" I didn't know how to answer something like that, Jet hadn't even asked me things about myself before.

"Well, I pretty much just waterbend for fun." His eyes had started to glow in an adorable type of way.

"You can waterbend?! Can I see?!" He seemed so eager to see me waterbend and it was seriously too cute. I nod and start to head to the lake. I started bending to make a huge wave and instantly drop the water after, it took a lot of energy to do that because I haven't brushed up on my bending that much. I turn around, and Aang was clapping.

"That was amazing Katara! You're one good waterbender!." I blush and smile at him, mumbling a thanks. I walk back and sit next to him.

"So, Aang, where are you from?" He smiles back at me.

"I'm originally from here. I moved to the city when I was younger to train, but when my dad died he left me his old house to use as a training ground" His smile went down for a bit, but he quickly returned it when he looked at me. I felt for him. My mom died when I was younger, so I knew how it felt to lose someone important to you.

"I'm so sorry Aang" I put my hand on his shoulder and he shakes his head.

"I'm fine, it gets lonely and I miss him sometimes but even I can't fight death" I wonder what he meant by 'even I' but I shrugged it off.

"So, Katara. Where are you from?" I sigh and look up at the sky, wondering if my dad was looking at the same one I was.

"I'm from Philadelphia. My dad moved out there when I was 13." Aang nodded as he listened to me. I looked back at him and smiled. He started to get up, and stretch.

"It was nice meeting you Katara, but I have to get back to my place. My friends are probably worrying where I went" I cocked my head at him. I forgot Pakku told me that he had other people there. He looked back at me as if he had an idea.

"Oh! I know! I'll just introduce you to them!" Aang grabs my hand and drags me to his house and I smile. For once, I wasn't thinking about my friends and family back at home. I wasn't thinking about how I was punished. I wasn't thinking about my phone. And I definitely wasn't thinking about Jet.

Author's Note:

Hey guys so A LOT of you were questioning how Katara was acting in the beginning but I have an explanation for that. In my story, Katara has always gotten what she wanted and was always kind etc. But, getting involved with Jet turned her into a bad girl if you catch my drift. I don't really think it's out of line for how she acted towards her dad, being mad at him in the show for not being there while she and Sokka were younger. We do technically kind of see that side of her, but I get that she's not really being her sweet self but I wanted to give her a little rebellious 16 year old mentality!

TV06: Of course she felt guilty, Katara is still the sweet girl she usually is but she's hanging around the wrong crowd. Also Kataang incoming!

Sparkysparkybo0mman: First of all, I love your username, and secondly thank you!

Ashley Barbosa: Eh, it's a bit OC not gonna lie. But I wanted to see the more teenage version of Katara instead of the motherly one since she doesn't have to take care of a whole tribe.